Air Pollution Control Officer
Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District
Bio:
Mr. Kiddoo received a Bachelor of Science in Physiology and Zoology form the University of California Santa Barbara in 1998 with an environmental ecology focus. Mr. Kiddoo began his scientific career with the California Department of Fish and Game in 2000 working on high mountain lake ecological restoration projects in the Sierra Nevada. After five successful years of alpine lake restoration, Mr. Kiddoo left seasonal employment over fifteen years ago for a full-time permanent position at the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District (District), a local unified regional agency comprised of Alpine, Mono and Inyo counties. After five years as an entry level Research Systems Analyst, Mr. Kiddoo was promoted to a management position as the District’s Senior Research and Systems Analyst. After five years of overseeing, managing, and supervising the District’s Data Systems and Technology Division, Mr. Kiddoo was appointment as Air Pollution Control Officer (APCO) by the Great Basin Governing Board in 2015. Working his way through the ranks at the District, Mr. Kiddoo’s work has covered an extremely broad spectrum of duties and responsibilities at the agency. Currently as the District’s APCO, Mr. Kiddoo oversees all operations and functions of the District. The APCO is the District’s Chief Executive and General Manager, responsible for enforcing all federal, state, and local air quality laws to protect public health and the environment from the harmful effects of air pollution.
Title: Owens Lake 2022: Lessons Learned, Future Challenges and Terminal Saline Lake Bellwether
Abstract: On May 13, 2016, a presentation was given at the Great Salt Lake Issues forum on Owens Lake: From Serious Non-Attainment Area for PM10 to 48.6 mi2 of Dust Control Mitigation, https://www.fogsl.org/newsroom/item/554-2016-great-salt-lake-issues-forum-video-archive.
This year’s Owens Lake dust control update will provide valuable insight into ongoing public health protection, lessons learned, and future challenges encountered over the past six years.
In 1913, California marked one of its greatest successes, and greatest failures. The City of Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) completed construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, diverting all tributary water destined to the terminal saline Owens Lake, 223 miles south to the sprawling metropolis of Los Angeles. A historic achievement for Southern California, and a disaster for Owens Lake which mostly dried up, exposing extensive areas of relicted lakebed playa resulting in the largest source of particulate emissions in the nation. An ecological treasure, Owens Lake was a 110 square mile saline biological super producer transformed into an ecological and environmental wasteland.
In 1987, the EPA designated the Owens Lake area as serious non-attainment for violations of the national air standards. The difficult task of enforcing those standards fell upon a local air district with two dozen employees, the Great Basin Unified Air Pollution Control District (Great Basin). After years of litigation, LADWP was required to undertake dust control measures to meet those standards.
The results have been extraordinary. As of January 2022, 47.8 square miles of dust control areas are completed, operating, and maintained at Owens Lake. On average, 75,000 tons per year of PM10 are control and no longer impacting public health. LADWP reports that the price tag to date is approximately 2.5 billion dollars with millions of annual on-going operation and maintenance costs.
Great Basin developed innovative testing, monitoring and control technology that have potential application to other terminal lakes facing uncertain futures due to drought and competing demands for water drought affected areas. Those control methods include 1) Gravel Blanket, 2) Managed Vegetation, and 3) Shallow Flooding. All these measures mimic natural systems of dust control, 1) desert pavement, 2) wetland meadows and shrublands and 3) lakes, seeps, and springs. All also have their own unique mandated set of enforceable performance criteria. To define these critical elements, all performance criteria required testing, subsequent testing, and retesting for refinement.
Water is a precious resource in desert environments and as such, water use reduction in long standing Shallow Flooding dust control areas at Owens Lake for dust mitigation continues to be a competing pillar of air quality for public health protection. With a new planning effort in 2016, Great Basin was successful in making modifications to existing dust control measures within the framework of the law to create substantial water savings. New measures put into place include both brine and tillage with shallow flooding backup and dynamic water management. Water savings for LADWP have been significant, yet challenges meeting regulatory performance criteria remain substantial. Meanwhile the complexity of Owens Lake dust mitigation continues to increase. Owens Lake is a case study of one, a vital bellwether for the future and other terminal saline lakes in the Great Basin Ecoregion.